Description

Run… fly… dodge those obstacles, but return fire on wave after wave of attacking aliens. Armed with a really big gun, you have to defend yourself against the alien hordes using your wits to navigate around the screen. But watch out for those end of level bosses!

Originating in the arcades, Space Harrier is a third-person rail shooter with pseudo-3D graphics, set in the same world as Fantasy Zone. The lone titular hero fights aliens with a fireball-launching cannon, which can also be used to transform the hero into a flying rocket. The protagonist is constantly in motion, but the speed of his movement can be regulated by the player.

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Missing ports

Space Harrier was advertised for the Commodore 16/Plus 4 computer, and the (multi-platform) manual also had loading instructions for BBC and Electron computers. For reasons unknown, those ports never did appear.

Setting

Space Harrier originally mentioned that it took place in the Fantasy Zone just as the game of the same name, (remember the "Welcome to the Fantasy Zone! Get Ready!" intro?) and many have claimed that the games take place in the same universe considering the similarity in graphic design. While SEGA never made any official statement they did try to capitalize on the similarities with Space Fantasy Zone. An unreleased Fantasy Zone sequel for the PC Engine CD was developed that used the pseudo 3D gameplay of the Space Harrier series but used Opa-Opa and his gang of cute characters and levels.

It is unsure why the game never got released, but several beta copies have been leaked and you can easily find them around the net and run them with an emulator.